Indian parties flay Pak FM

NEW DELHI (Agencies) Indian political parties on Friday termed 'uncalled for, unjustified and condemnable' the remarks by Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi that External Affairs Minister SM Krishna did not have the mandate for talks, and said India does not need a 'certificate' from Qureshi on the issue. "We don't want a certificate from the Pakistani foreign minister whether Krishna had a mandate for talks. He had the full mandate," ruling Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters. The Congress also hit out at Qureshi for comparing Hafiz Saeed with India's Home Secretary GK Pillai, saying it was 'unacceptable'. Meanwhile, India's main opposition demanded the government to pull out of faltering peace talks with Pakistan and said a meeting between foreign ministers from the countries had achieved nothing. Bharatiya Janata Party has been opposed to the new attempts at dialogue from the start and senior leaders called them 'talks for the sake of talks'. "India should call off the talks now," BJP leader Sushma Swaraj told the Times Now news channel. "The government should rethink, they should not engage in a dialogue if Pakistan continues this attitude." "I would like to ask what is the meaning of a dialogue when India gets nothing," said former foreign minister and senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh. "If we are not finding any purpose then we should call off the talks," he added. Another BJP leader Yashwant Sinha lashed out at Qureshi's hostile remarks, saying he did not deserve his job. "The talks have been a non-starter," Sinha told Times Now.